Automotive vehicles typically include a cowl adjacent a windshield of the automotive vehicle and the cowl often includes one or more openings for providing ambient air to the HVAC system. Generally, it is undesirable for water or debris to enter the HVAC system through the openings in the cowl. Although industry has taken protective measures to prevent such entry, HVAC systems and particularly HVAC systems having relatively strong blowers still suffer from intake of undesirable amounts of water, debris or both. Therefore the present invention seeks to provide an improved protection system for preventing water and debris from entering automotive HVAC systems.